Conspiracy theorist influencers set out to prove the shape of our planet.
A team of Flat Earth conspiracy theorists recently traveled to Antarctica in the hopes of provingâ€"once and for allâ€"that our planet is, in fact, flat. Unfortunately for them, the trip seems to have confirmed what scientists and geologists have long told everybody, and what photographic evidence and videos have already proven: our planet is round.
The expedition in question was chartered by Will Duffy, the pastor of a small church based outside of Denver, Colorado. On a website devoted to the expedition, Duffy explains that the journey involves 24 flat earthers and 24 "globe earthers" who were "handpicked" as "representatives of their respective sides." The point of the expedition, which has been dubbed "The Final Experiment," is to investigate whether a 24-hour sun exists in Antarctica.
"The Final Experiment is a way to settle the shape of the Earth debate," the organization's website states. "Both the flat earth side and the globe side agree that whether or not there is a 24-hour sun in Antarctica will confirm if we live on a flat planet or on a globe."
The "midnight sun," as it's known, is the result of the Earth's axial tilt and the position of the Arctic circle relative to the solar rays. It's unclear why flat earthers decided that the sun's presence would either prove or disprove their own beliefs. After all, if the Earth is actually flat, how do you even explain the concepts of night and day? Like, what is the sun doing when it gets dark? Hiding under the cosmic chessboard that is our world? I do not know enough about the tenets of the conspiracy theory at hand, but I fail to see why the fluctuations of the sun would have any bearing on their belief system whatsoever.
Anyway, when the expedition-goers got to Antarctica they found, unsurprisingly, that there was, indeed, a 24-hour sun. "Sometimes you are wrong in life," said Flat Earth influencer Jeran Campanella, in a video posted by Duffy after the team had reached their destination. "I thought there was no 24-hour Sun. In fact, I was pretty sure of it."
The Flat Earther movement is mostly a religious movement (it has been referred to as a form of “extreme Biblical-literalist theologyâ€), which explains a certain amount of its believers' aversion to science. In recent years, the theory has been platformed by numerous right-wing political personalities, including Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson, presumably because it appeals to their largely conservative, presumably religious audiences.
In fact, Owens appears to have ties to the recent Antarctica trip. In his video, Duffy thanked the right-wing podcaster, who he said was "super excited" by the idea of the expedition, and claimed that Owens' director, Mark Herman, was actually with them in Antarctica. In a separate video, Duffy said that Herman would report back to Owens' audience on the trip's findings. In the past, Owens was quoted as saying: “I'm not a flat earther. I'm not a round earther. Actually, what I am is I am somebody who has left the cult of science.â€